EMA Criteria

EMA Criteria

The Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA) is a secondary alert that can be issued if circumstances do not meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert. Please consider the following criteria, designated for issuing an EMA.

Do the circumstances meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert? If they do, immediately follow the protocol to issue an AMBER Alert.

Is the person missing under unexplained, involuntary, or suspicious circumstances? Cases of runaways or suicidal parties are not the intended use for an EMA.

Is the person believed to be in dangers because of age, health, cognitive, or physical disability, environmental or weather conditions, in the company of a potentially dangerous person or some other factor that may put the person at risk for serious bodily injury or death?

Is there enough descriptive information that could assist the public in the safe recovery of the endangered person?

Is it within 72 hours of when the person first went missing?

If you are law enforcement, and the missing person you are investigating meets these criteria, click here to request an Endangered Missing Advisory.

The distribution of an EMA is not the same as an AMBER Alert. Unlike an AMBER Alert, an EMA is not automatically distributed statewide. An EMA can be distributed based on the geographic area in which the missing person was last seen, or is believed to be. The public is encouraged to sign up for an email blast, which will be issued by the Nebraska State Patrol to people in the specific area for each EMA. Sign up here.

NSP will also alert media in that specific region to help spread the advisory to more people. Distribution is also possible, depending on the case, through partners with the Nebraska Lottery and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.